Weaning and What to Buy?
George enjoying his self feeder
It is exciting and sometimes nerve wrecking feeding your baby solid foods: having good equipment does help. You don’t need to spend a fortune, so recommendations do count. From soft silicon spoons and a sturdy bib, (that means not having to constantly wipe your baby, most babies hate this)… here are the products and brands that I know and rate, starting with the premise that simple really is best.
Visit our new dedicated Mimi’s Bowl Amazon Store with a selection of the up-to-date pieces I recommend personally.
N.B. the products have affiliate links.
bibs
What I look for in a bib: I have two types of bibs that I like to use:
Machine washable long sleeve bib, that gives full coverage. These aren’t always suitable for really young babies, so check the age recommendations. However, if your baby can fit one comfortably then they really help to save on laundry!
Smaller silicon bibs with a little pocket for catching foods. Older kids will also pick up food once they have fallen into the pocket, which is great for coordination and motor skills. They can be rinsed in the sink, for easy cleaning.
feeding
Spoons: when your baby starts weaning you want to look for a soft tipped spoon, thats gentle on their gums, with a good scoop to hold puree. These are the best I have found and I recommend highly: first spoons You can then move onto a slightly firmer and sturdier spoon.
Self Feeding: these self feeders with a handle to grip onto, are a brilliant way of encouraging independent eating safely. Your baby can suck food through the end of the feeder, under supervision. I fill them with avocado, melon, banana and so on… both my children really loved eating with these.
Bowl set: it is worth investing in a good quality bowl set for your baby. I like non slip, or suction bases, as they are practical and lids are really helpful if you want to warm a meal and take it with you.
storage
You are cooking all this good homemade food - now how to store it? In fact batch cooking and storing food is one of the best ways of minimising the work of weaning. Here are a few products I would recommend investing in.
Multi-portion freezer trays: are your best friend, they come in various sizes (90ml and 150ml). I look for multi portion freezer trays with lids, to protect the food. It is worth investing in some good quality ones as I am still using the ones I bought when weaning my daughter in 2015! These are my first choice of trays.
Portioned Storage Pots: are really useful and I always have a few on the go in my fridge with the days food portioned out in them. Once your baby has eaten from a jar you have to discard the rest, as bacteria can then transfer to the food. So portion everything out and store it neatly away in your fridge, clearly labelled! One puree can look exactly the same as another. There are BPA free plastic options and also glass ones, which would be my preference.
Zip and lock freezer bags: for safely storing cubes of purees in your freezer. Frozen foods can last for up to 3 months in your freezer, if sealed in a bag and stored correctly.
Insulated flasks are also useful for when you are on the go, you can warm up food at home and take it out with you.
cooking and prep
The place to save on spending is with cooking equipment: you so not need expensive blending and steaming machines (in my opinion). I find a stick blender so much easier to clean and there is no limit on the quantity you can blend. As your babies appetite grows the amounts you batch cook will increase, a lot of the “baby pureeing machines” have very small bowls for blending food. So, I personally found I got much more use out of a stick blender.
A Stick Blender: the most essential piece of kit, if you buy anything buy a stick blender.
A set of cooking pots: I use a set of 3 ply stainless steel set of saucepans, which I have continued to use for all family meals since. A good quality set should last a lifetime. For babies I always recommend a ceramic pot or stainless steel, I avoid all cookware with non-stick coatings.
A basic Steamer Basket: hopefully you have one of these already but this really is all you need. Steaming is a great way to lock in nutrients which can be lost when boiling foods in water.
Spatulas: are very useful for scrapping out pots and also if you can find a design with a scooped end even better.
highchairs
I also get asked a lot which high chair I use and I have tried a lot of different models. Whatever model you choose here is my high chair check list:
Easy to assemble
Easy to clean, with removable covers
Ideally can be adapted for several eating stages from baby to toddler
Removable table, or tray
